Who these people are
- Sales Managers running a pod and coaching daily.
- Heads of Sales and Sales Directors owning strategy, process and forecast.
- Newly created leadership seats where the operating model still has to be designed.
Roles we recruit
Sales leadership recruitment
A sales leader changes the shape of a business. The wrong hire costs a year. We look for leaders who can coach, forecast honestly and build a repeatable motion, not simply people who were once good sellers. For VP of Sales and Chief Revenue Officer appointments, our executive search service is the better fit.
When to hire
- Founder-led sales needs to become a system.
- The team has grown past the point where one person can coach everyone informally.
- Forecasting is unreliable and pipeline reviews are anecdotal.
What strong candidates look like
- Can describe the operating rhythm they install in the first ninety days.
- Have coached individuals to measurable improvement, with examples.
- Understand hiring, onboarding and enablement as part of the job.
- Are honest about what they inherited versus what they built.
Modern GTM capability
- Forecasting methodology and pipeline inspection.
- Reporting, dashboards and revenue analytics.
- Views on where AI and automation genuinely help their team, and where it does not.
- Compensation and territory design.
Human selling ability
- Coaching and difficult conversations.
- Recruiting and retaining good sellers.
- Credibility with the board and with the shop floor.
- Cultural judgement.
How we recruit this role
- Leadership hires run as a consultative search with a defined scorecard.
- We agree the commercial mandate with you first: what must be true in twelve months.
- We reference-check leadership behaviour, not just results.
Assessment
How we screen for sales leadership recruitment
The same five stages apply to every role we recruit. What changes is the weighting: the evidence that matters, and how much of the decision rests on mindset and fit.
Stage 1: Experience and evidence
What has this person actually done?
We get specific about the numbers and the environment behind them, in the same format for every candidate, so you can compare people rather than compare CVs.
Past performance is evidence, not a forecast. A strong number in a business with exceptional inbound tells you very little about a cold market, and we say so.
Includes
Quota, attainment and how it moved across the last three periods · Average deal value and sales cycle length · Market, customer type and the ICP they actually sold into · New business versus account growth, outbound versus inbound
Stage 2: How they sell
What happens when this person has to actually sell?
We take them through real situations rather than competency questions, because selling is a behaviour and you can hear it.
Includes
Discovery: the questions they ask and the order they ask them in · Listening ratio, and whether they follow the thread or return to a script · Prospecting method and how they choose who to approach · Building rapport without performing
Stage 3: Modern GTM capability
Can this person operate inside a modern revenue team?
Technology should give a seller more time in front of buyers. We check they understand that, and that they use it with judgement rather than for volume.
Nobody needs experience of every platform, and we do not screen on a tool list. The principle is simpler: a strong modern seller can explain how technology makes them more effective, and where it makes them worse.
Includes
CRM discipline in Salesforce or HubSpot: clean pipeline, honest stages, useful notes · Conversation intelligence such as Gong, and what they changed after listening back · Sequencing and engagement platforms such as Outreach or Salesloft · Data and intelligence tools: Apollo, Lusha, Cognism, Clay, LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Stage 4: Mindset and motivation
Why does this person sell, and what happens when it gets hard?
This is the stage most processes skip and the one that most often explains a failed hire. It is a proper conversation, not a personality questionnaire.
The goal is meaningful human understanding, not a psychometric score. We report what we heard and where we are unsure.
Includes
Why they chose sales, and whether they actually enjoy selling · What motivates them beyond the commission plan · Ambition: what they want to be doing in three years, and how realistic it is · Resilience and how they describe a bad quarter
Stage 5: Human and cultural fit
Where is this person most likely to thrive?
We are not looking for people who all sound the same. We are working out which environment brings the best out of this particular person, and whether that is yours.
Cultural fit is not a code word for people who resemble the existing team. Used properly it is the difference between a good hire and a good hire in the wrong place.
Includes
Communication style, and how it lands with your buyer · Personality and values, described honestly rather than flatteringly · The working environment they perform best in · The management style that gets the most out of them
Common questions
Frequently asked
- Should our first leadership hire be a Head of Sales or a VP?
- It depends on team size, deal complexity and how much of the motion already exists. We will give you a straight recommendation, including when the answer is to promote internally instead.
- Is this executive search?
- Senior leadership mandates typically run through our executive search service, with a formal scorecard, mapped market and structured assessment.
Related roles
Other roles we recruit
Most hires sit alongside another role. These are the ones we are asked about most often in the same conversation.
Which service fits this hire
One hire like this is usually executive search. Several connected hires — a pod, a new region, a rebuild — is a team build.
Hiring for sales leadership?
Tell us where this role sits in your team and what it has to deliver. We will tell you who is realistically available for it.